Out of Tulare early to drive to Sequoia NP. A chance to see the BIG trees. Oh boy. Well, we missed the planned turnoff but drove to Sequoia via the backroads in Tulare and wow what an agricultural center. Mile after mile of vineyards, orange groves, lemon groves, pomegranate groves in addition to the not so exotic apples and peaches and cherries. It was amazing to see the scale of irrigation required for such big commercial farms. No wonder they are alway fighting with LA for water rights.
Arrived in Sequoia and took photos of what else but big trees. Photos to follow here once I'm home.
Drove from Sequoia to Lone Pine CA hostel (the Mt. Whitney portal hostel I think is its full name) through Bakersfield CA , about a 3.5 hour drive on the interstate.
I have to put in a plug for the interagency visitor center in Lone Pine. We thought we might be too late to get our permit for the climb and called them and they have a night box they agreed to put it in if we were not there before 6 PM.
Hostel is clean and very convenient on main street in Lone Pine and you can see Mt. Whitney from the balcony. Only got about 4 hours of sleep after going out to eat in a very quaint Western themed cafe , ate light had 5 chicken wings, Archie had salad and Guiness.
One really cool thing about the hostel is that you can see Mt. Whitney from the balcony of the hotel. Very cool. Another very cool thing is that their coffee is good enough for me to drink black which is a rarity indeed.
Only a few hours before we must be up and head for the trailhead.
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